CBD leads to failed drug test, trucker claims in lawsuit

Trevor Darrow had been a truck driver for about 10 years. According to his attorney, he had never failed a drug test during that time.

Then, earlier this year Darrow failed an employment drug test with a motor carrier because of the presence of THC in his system.

“He was shocked because he hadn’t ever failed a drug test,” said David Fish of the Fish Law Firm in Naperville, Ill. “He had to have a drug test for his driving jobs for some time. He couldn’t believe it. He thought it had to be a mistake.”

However, Darrow said he purchased JustCBD gummies in July from a retailer in Illinois, because he believed the product would help him sleep. According to Darrow, the product was labeled as not containing THC, which is the main psychoactive chemical found in marijuana.

Class action complaint 

On Oct. 28 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Darrow filed a class action complaint against Just Brands USA, alleging the Florida-based company violated the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Trade Practices Act by mislabeling their JustCBD products as having “no THC.”

“It boils down to this,” Fish said. “There needs to be federal labeling. Consumers, including truck drivers, need to know what they are getting into before they buy something.”

According to Fish, it took Darrow a couple of months to regain employment after the failed drug test.

“Plaintiff purchased the JustCBD product because he reasonably expected the product would help him sleep and that it did not contain any THC, as defendants had advertised on the product label,” the class action complaint stated. “Defendants’ ‘no THC’ representation was false and misleading to plaintiff and other similarly situated consumers.”

The class is open to any person who within three years of the filing, purchased JustCBD products with the “no THC” label in the state of Illinois. The class is not limited to truck drivers, nor those who failed a drug test as a result.

Attempts to reach JustCBD regarding the complaint were unsuccessful on Friday, Nov. 1.

Other CBD news

In April, Land Line Media reported on a trucker who was fired for testing positive for marijuana after ingesting CBD oil and filed a lawsuit accusing the CBD oil company of lying about the THC content in its product.